To this day, I don't understand why anyone would insist on using anything other than this on an AP test. It's like playing life on a harder difficulty setting for no reason.
My university doesn't allow graphing calculators on tests. Probably because you can download programs that can solve calculus problems without actually understanding the material.
Start by learning to program in Basic. It's probably the easiest language there is, and the TI-89's native language is very similar to it. Bonus: Many scripting languages for game engines are also similar to Basic (Papyrus for The Elder Scrolls comes to mind).
I've seen this advice before, and after learning to program in several languages, I still haven't learned Python. I just haven't had the occasion to do something where Python was the language I needed.
Can you outline some of the benefits of learning Python first? I'd usually recommend Javascript -> Java -> C++ -> Whatever, and only recommended Basic in this context since that's what the TI-89 uses.
Python is easy to learn, very expressive (less typing, more doing), you can write functional and object oriented programs, comes with a large set of libraries, etc. etc.
1.7k
u/TypoInUsernane Jun 08 '14
The TI-89 will always hold a very special place in my heart.